


is that a pair of glasses in your pants (or are you just happy to see me)

by jessus



Category: Free!
Genre: Awkward Kissing, M/M, awkward everything rly, awkward hand holding, rei is blind, rin has a potty mouth, rin is still dumb, these are some beautiful tags, what do you know
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-19
Updated: 2013-10-19
Packaged: 2017-12-29 20:09:07
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,029
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1009549
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jessus/pseuds/jessus
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rin's no stranger to close-talking--he's just more used to yelling and being glared at while it's happening. But Rei only looks vaguely annoyed--probably more at the situation than Rin, who, to him, must seem like an innocent bystander and not the kidnapper of glasses he actually is.</p>
            </blockquote>





	is that a pair of glasses in your pants (or are you just happy to see me)

**Author's Note:**

> okay hi again rin/rei fans??? hello hello hello it's been a long time aka like four days or smth. i saw [this](http://johnnytoews.tumblr.com/post/64431025074/toxixpumpkin-okay-but-what-if-rin-and-rei-are) beautiful post on tumblr and spasmed at the OP via assbox a little embarrassingly. so she said i could write the fic. thank you, tumblr user toxixpumpkin. i don't think this was at all what you had in mind, bc i'm pretty sure the post was more about an established relationship than whatever mess i ended up churning out. i might still write a second version, tbh. this version is short and really quite silly and i could've done more with it but i'm exhausted and my head hurts so right now this is what you get. hope it's still enjoyable! also, someday i'll write a fic where rin actually KNOWS AT THE BEGINNING that he's into rei and doesn't realize halfway through because of a metaphorical bolt of lightning to his dick. someday.

It's not that Rin sees the moment Rei's glasses fall off as he's shoved from behind by a pair of shrieking kids and thinks,  _This is my chance_. His eyes don't follow the trajectory of said glasses as they land in a nearby bush, and they certainly don't narrow in thought as he begins to plot, because that would be  _weird_. If he strolls casually over to the bush as Rei squawks and squints and waves his hands in the air--like that's supposed to help him find his glasses--only to end up slipping the red frames he finds into his pocket? It's not out of anything but a desire to have a good laugh at someone's misfortune. 

Haruka and Makoto are a few yards ahead, Nagisa and Gou even further away as the two of them flit from game to food stand and back faster than the rest of the group can keep up. Makoto glances back at Rei at the sound of his distress, looking concerned, but then Haruka nudges him to regain his attention, and it works--like it always will. 

Rin lets Rei flail until all four of their companions have disappeared from sight, and only then does he sidle up behind him. He leans in close, right up to Rei's ear, and then says loudly, "Lose something?" 

To his credit, Rei only jumps about  _half_  a foot in the air. His ears  go curiously pink as he whips his head around to fix his squinted eyes on Rin. Then he steps back, blinks hard, and steps forward again, way too close, because apparently he likes to be able to see each individual facial feature of those he's talking to.

Rin's no stranger to close-talking--he's just more used to yelling and being glared at while it's happening. But Rei only looks vaguely annoyed-- _probably_  more at the situation than Rin, who, to him, must seem like an innocent bystander and not the kidnapper of glasses he actually is. 

"My glasses fell off," Rei tells him, like Rin doesn't already know, didn't watch it happen and then proceed to make it worse instead of better to sustain his suffering. It's nothing personal, really. He would've done this to anyone. They may be at an amusement park already, but he's not about to say no to some  _extra_  entertainment when it's dropped into his lap. 

"Oh? That... sucks," Rin says, convincing no one except perhaps Rei, who apparently has grown to trust him far more than he deserves in the past few weeks. 

Rin shoves a hand into his pocket, closing his fist around the glasses while Rei sighs hopelessly and looks at the ground around them. It's hard not to laugh at the way he gets a little line right down the middle of his forehead as he squints determinedly all around them. He's, what, fifteen years old and already has wrinkles? Not that Rin can talk; he'll probably have frown lines by the time he's twenty. 

"Someone's going to step on them any minute," Rei says, still watching the ground and the people milling around them, and then his eyes are snapping back onto Rin, determined and commanding and--Rin is a little bit ashamed to realize that the phrase "heart skipping a beat" isn't  _just_  a string of pretty words invented by one of those authors Gou likes so much. His heart skips a beat, and in the few seconds after Rei says, "You need to help me find them," voice firm and only a little desperate, his palms go sort of clammy. 

_I'm probably getting his lenses sweaty_ , Rin thinks absurdly, opening his mouth to somehow refuse to help even in the face of Rei at his most demanding--which is something even  _Nagisa_  would probably laugh at, and yet here Rin is, opening his mouth to do just that, and instead saying, "Okay." 

He's struck dumb by the realization that Rei has any sort of power over him, but when he really thinks about it a minute later, on his hands and knees and searching for something he knows he won't find on the ground, it's not so surprising. This isn't the first time this sort of thing has happened around Rei--though maybe the other times he'd just attributed it to anger, and nothing else. Pulse rushing, heart pounding, and the only difference now is the urge to maybe kiss him, or just  _touch_  in a way that's far less threatening than their last encounters. 

Except he still feels vaguely threatened. Sort of irritated, too, at the fact that Rei thinks he can just waltz into his life,  _live_  Rin's life with Rin's team, selflessly give Rin's life back to him, and then--be  _attractive_ , all at once. It's a little rude, to do that to someone who's already been through his fair share of shit, and at some point Rin will probably tell him how rude it is. 

Some other time, Rin probably won't be standing up and brushing the dirt off his legs and walking up to Rei, who's groping blindly at the ground ten feet away. He won't be reaching out to help him stand, or promising with an eyeroll to escort him safely out of the park, or grabbing his fucking hand to pull him along. He'll be telling Rei that it's really inconsiderate of him to do this to someone so unsuspecting, someone with walls that have only just started to come down after years of careful building and rebuilding. 

But he's not now, because he's got Rei's hand in his own, clenched in a death-grip that must be somewhat painful until Rin relaxes a bit. There are other ways he could do this--hold onto his wrist, or put his hands on Rei's shoulders and push him forward through the crowd and towards the exit. He could just give back the glasses he  _stole_.  But none of those would have Rei gripping him back like he is now. None of them would have Rin thinking, for even a moment, that he could have this in any other situation. It's selfish, he knows. It's misleading and, frankly, a little creepy. But he’s in shock, he tells himself. Emotional shock.

"Let's get out of here, princess," he mutters, rolling his eyes even though he knows Rei won't see him. He's glad, because he knows his cheeks are burning, an unfortunate sign that he is well and truly fucked. Can't even hold a guy's hand for something as non-romantic as leading him blindly through a crowd without flipping out about it. 

Rei is probably ruining his street cred. Rin almost tells him that, and then thinks better of it. 

Silently, Rin sends a message up to the heavens, hoping that Rei hasn't noticed how sweaty his palm is, how unnecessary the hand-holding is in general. He entertains the possibility that maybe Rei wouldn't mind even if he did know, and that thought, embarrassingly,  _horrifyingly_ , has him stumbling the next step, and he doesn’t let go of Rei's hand even then, because he  _stole a pair of glasses for this_ , and when he falls to the ground Rei falls with a tiny grunt next to him. 

Rin freezes at the crunch he hears when he rolls onto his side. 

"… What was that noise?" Rei asks after a moment. He sounds suspicious. 

_Fuck,_ Rin thinks. 

"I... don't--I'm not sure? What--I didn't hear anything," Rin says lamely. 

"I've stepped on enough pairs of glasses to know..." Rei says slowly, and then trails off. 

"Oh, have you?" Rin snaps, feeling inexplicably cornered and panicky. Part of him wants to quote Scooby Doo,  _I_ _would've gotten away with it_ , play it off as a joke. The rest of him wants to run. 

He tries to let go of Rei's hand, still tangled with his own, and ignores the faint spark of hope in his chest when Rei won't let him. It's quickly crushed by the realization that Rei probably wants to keep him close so he can attack him easily for hiding and subsequently breaking his glasses. 

"Why did you take my glasses?" Rei asks after a moment of Rin struggling to get his hand back and Rei silently refusing to let him. Rei's face is close enough to him that no matter how bad his vision is, Rin is pretty sure he can see the way he rolls his eyes. 

"Thought it'd be funny," Rin tells him. It's not a lie. "And it  _was_." He sounds harsh, harsh like he hasn't been in a while and certainly harsher than a prank between two friends would warrant, and as he watches, Rei's lips thin out and he frowns. There's that wrinkle again. 

"Ah. Okay. I thought--" Rei starts, his shoulders slumping a little when he sits up and then lets go of Rin's hand, finally. "I thought we were becoming friends." 

He sounds upset and--and  _hurt_ , and Rin always knew it'd be a bad idea to start caring who he wronged, but it's too late to go back, now, he's opened himself up to all of this  _caring,_  and it makes something ache in his chest to know he's the reason for the sound of Rei's voice, that he can't even deal with his own newfound feelings long enough to keep from lashing out at someone in an attempt to hide them. 

"Shit," he says. "Shit, fucking--shit."

Rei stares at him silently. His eyes are distracting without the glasses, and Rin swears again. 

"You're gonna make me do this, really? We're gonna have to talk about this?" 

"I--what?

"No, hold on. Just fucking--give me a second." 

Rin takes a deep breath, and Rei lets him. This is going to be among the most shameful moments of his life, he thinks. Right up there with how he'd acted years ago after losing to Haruka. At least he had the excuse of being an angsty pre-teen back then. 

"If you're pulling that sad face on purpose to get me to "open up," I'm probably gonna kill you--fair warning," he says, which is probably the worst way he could've started this, but Rin's not going to be the first person to boast about his interpersonal skills. Still, he nearly winces at the fact that he can’t even _apologize_ correctly. "We are friends. We're... friends. I--you--god  _damn_  it." 

He grabs Rei's hand without letting himself think about it, and very resolutely stares at the sky from his place on the ground, ignoring the stares of the constant stream of passerby. 

Rei is quiet a moment, and when Rin chances a look at him, he's watching their hands, and then he rolls his own eyes skyward and his cheeks go as red as Rin's ever seen them. 

"Friends?" Rei asks, sounding a little strangled. A little terrified, a little hopeful. 

Rin nearly bangs his head on the ground. Rei's not running for the hills, doesn't seem as horrified by the clear prospect of more-than-friends as Rin thought he'd be, which is a good sign, but does he have to do  _everything_  in this relationship? 

He's about to finish his ill-worded confession when Rei goes on after a deep breath of his own, sounding all the more strong and certain for it, "Because I don't think you want to be friends." 

"I  _do_ \--" 

His token protest is interrupted by Rei leaning over him and planting an off-center kiss on him. Very off-center. Rin goes abruptly silent, Rei's mouth closer to his cheekbone than his mouth, really, and Rei groans a little in embarrassment once he’s realized what he’s done.

"If I could  _see_ ," he mutters disdainfully after a long, uncomfortable moment, "that wouldn't have  _happened_." 

Rin is not going to say something completely cheesy like  _I'll see for you_. No amount of money would make him say something like that, ever. 

Instead, he angles Rei's head the right way, surges upward, and hopes the way the kiss connects this time sends the proper message. 

If the noise Rei makes into his mouth is a good indicator, it does. 

**Author's Note:**

> i'm sorry.
> 
> kudos/comments are appreciated! if you'd like to drop me a message on tumblr, my username is johnnytoews and i'd love to talk to y'all!


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